What's new in Windows 8, and whether you should upgrade

A rough guide to what's new in Windows 8, how it differs from Windows 7, and whether existing Windows users should upgrade to Windows 8.

We now know that Windows 8 will launch in October, in both its X86 and ARM Windows RT flavours. And we expect Windows Phone 8 and the Microsoft Surface tablet to launch at around the same time.

If you are looking to upgrade your smartphone or tablet, then, Windows 8 will offer a very different alternative to Android, iOS and the rest. But what about the majority of the world's one billion Windows users, who are running X86 Windows PCs and laptops? Here then, is a rough guide to what's new in Windows 8, and how it differs from Windows 7. See also:Windows 8 uncovered: a deep dive into Windows 8.

Windows 8 vs Windows 7: Metro interface and touch

The most immediate and fundamental difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 is the main interface. Although the Desktop view is similar to traditional Windows, most of the time you'll be interacting with Windows 8's Metro interface - and boy will you notice the difference. The Metro interface is the default home screen for Windows 8, and features a series of colourful tiles, each offering access to a discrete application. Each offers live information, so you can see how many emails are in your inbox, for example, without having to open an application. You can customise your device's Metro interface, adding for instance access apps, web pages, images and even people - or at least their picture, contact details and your combined communication.

Metro is bold and striking to look at, and you can change its colour scheme to suit your taste. You can also log in to an account, and take your settings and apps with you wherever you roam, similar to using your Google account with Android. Metro is scalable, too: so if you zoom out the tiles rearrange themselves in a meaningful way.

It's sure to attract as much criticism as it does praise, because Metro is so very different from what went before, but Metro is certainly new to Windows 8. It's also designed to work best with touch-enabled devices, so if you are running a Windows 7 PC without a touchscreen, you may decide that the change is not worth it. There's a lot of dispute about the potential value of touchscreen PCs and laptops, and it is indisputably true that touch is not ideal for typing on an upright screen, for instance. But if you do have a touch-enabled device, you may find that you interact with a Windows 8 PC using your digits a lot more than you expected to.

With our Windows 8 Slate and Bluetooth keyboard setup we find that we've been using the keyboard to type out emails, for instance, but touching the screen to hit send. Windows 7 has touch capabilities, of course, but it's nothing like a true touchscreen OS: with the Metro interface. Windows 8 with Metro is. See also: Windows 8 Tablet review. For more on the changes in Windows 8 and how to use them visit Windows 8 Advisor. For detailed advice on installing Windows 8 Release Preview, read our article: How to install Windows 8.

Windows 8 vs Windows 7: Windows Store and Apps

The Metro interface looks and feels like a smartphone or tablet OS, and following that theme is the inclusion of the Windows Store in Windows 8. This online shopfront is stuffed full of Windows apps - each designed to run on x86 Windows PCs, laptops and tablets, as well as ARM tablets and smartphones. Windows 8 apps follow the same design principle as Metro - being constructed of cascading live tiles of information, in primary colours. They all have social networking capabilities baked in as standard, and follow the same principles of interface, so that there is no real learning curve when starting to use a new app.

Native apps included with Windows 8 include the Mail email app, a calendar app and much improved contacts app called People. There's Photos, Music, IE, Weather, Finance, Sports and so on. Which is all very nice, but if you are an existing Windows 7 user wondering whether to upgrade, you almost certainly have legacy X86 software programs that you wish to continue to use. This is taken care of in all flavours of Windows 8 apart from Windows RT and Windows Phone 8.

To use older software in windows 8, you have to use Desktop. This is an app in its own right, and opens up into an environment that looks and acts in virtually the same way as Windows 7. Think of it as virtualised Windows 7, in Windows 8 (it's like a much more simple version of Classic Mode from when Mac OS X first came out). This is imperfect, of course, as it means that much of your computing expeirence in the 'new' OS is taking place in a window that looks suspiciously like your old one. Still, it's difficult to see how else such a great leap forward in Windows' interfact could be handled. And it does mean you can have the best of all worlds.

The Desktop mode in Windows 8 is different from Windows 7 in one subtle but critical way, however: there's no Start menu. In fact, wherever you are in Windows 8, either touching the middle right of your screen or mousing over there brings up the Charms menu, which comprises Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings icons. The change takes a bit of getting used to, but is actually a lot more straightforward than the old way of doing things.

According to Microsoft Windows 8 is designed to be used by touch, keyboard and mouse - whatever is most appropriate to the task in hand. The corners of the screen are easy for mouse use, for instance, which is why the Start 'button' has disappeared, and in order to get to the Start menu you simply mouse to the bottom left. Similarly, for mouse users 'back' is top left, and to get to 'Charms' you have to go to the right and swipe. Keyboard navigation has been similarly adjusted. To get the 'Weather' app, for instance, you simply type 'weath...' and as you type the options will reduce until the Weather app appears. Meanwhile, page up, page down and so on, work as they do in Windows 7.

You can access search from anywhere, and the results are listed via the icons of the apps in which they appear. Simply click an app to choose results from that application. A search from anywhere combs the entire machine.

There are, of course, some down sides in these changes and to the fact that older software works only in the Desktop mode, but compatibility with other Windows 8 devices isn't one of them. For the price of getting used to some new interface tricks, you get to run all of your new apps across all kinds of Windows 8 devices, including PCs and laptops, but also ARM tablets and smartphones - in an interface that looks the same and has all your settings regardless of which device you are using. (See also: Windows 8: the complete guide.)

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fbbbbvieb said: lol i wouldnt isntall it and iwould port my net apps to metro only if i wanted to make a tablet version and got bored of using bigger icons in the toolbar Ibet the windowsforms namespace will exist for almsot as windows exist and win7 is the best Can i make a question for non touchscreen devices as notebooks and desktops is adding anything usefull dont tell me the facebook integration or some other social crap like performance security etc if it is as win7 then nope sorry it doesnt worth to relearn and reteach non advanced users to move from win7 to win8 P

angarato_surion said: lol i wouldnt isntall it and iwould port my net apps to metro only if i wanted to make a tablet version and got bored of using bigger icons in the toolbar Ibet the windowsforms namespace will exist for almsot as windows exist and win7 is the best Can i make a question for non touchscreen devices as notebooks and desktops is adding anything usefull dont tell me the facebook integration or some other social crap like performance security etcif it is as win7 then nope sorry it doesnt worth to relearn and reteach non advanced users to move from win7 to win8 P

cheryle said: Hijust read ur comment above and i have clicked LIKE on iti am however still a bit confusedlolWOULD YOU SAY WINDOWS 7 IS STILL BETTER THAN WINDOWS 8

Matt Egan said: It depends on the price for me If - as we expect - it is a round 25 the upgrade will be worth it simply because all new software will be written with Metro in mind And if you also have a Windows Phone or Tablet it will be doubly the case

Soulman said: A couple of points the article says that Win 8 is designed to be always on does this mean1 The end of reboots when a new app needs to do something to the register or the system crashesThat future Win updates amp patches as there will be wont need to shut down and reboot2 I dont keep my computer always on when Im not using it a to save electricity amp b to stop any malicious programmes for trying to access my computer even with a firewall anti virus programmes etc running and would turning on amp off affect the OS to much Im sure not but worth a mentionAlso not much talk of what resources it would take up you briefly mention RAM being less than Win 7 but what disk space does it take etc when up grading from XP

Johnyboy said: We have waited many years for media convergence between computing and living room electronics and it has still to be properly achieved so it is interesting to see computing convergence on the myriad of devices out there achieved with software It seems to me that being able to take your own interface and apps with you is the major plus of Windows 8 and if it works is a big leap forward but in the corporate world this is a potential nightmare unless the feature can be easily disabled in business machinesI am very surprised at the Microsoft take on always on with regards to security Their own anti-virusmalware suite is not particularly brilliant and an always on computer can be used very successfully for DoS attacks etc unless their sleep system somehow overcomes this potentialReporting generally now seems to be increasingly disparaging of Windows 7 which is a very good OS and is still at the heart of Windows 8 there seems no real need for businesses to change any time soon but I can see the joy of it for domestic purposes combining all the hardware into one easy to use system Apple of course are ahead of this game with their sharing system

Maccyroo said: Most traditional desktop usersrunning Windows 7 wont havemuch interest in metro social networking apps and even less interestin touch screen features From a desktop users point of view apart from an improved explorer interface which can be easily duplicated on Windows 7 machines by running the free Better Explorer what new featuresare there in Windows 8 for desktop usersYou dont seem to have given us much useful information inthis article with regard to that particularquestion which im sure would interest many peopleFrom what you have said in this article it appears that Windows 8 reclassifiesall mainstream software we currentlyrun on XP and Windows 7 desktopsaslegacy software If you want to run that software in Windows 8you then have to open a type of virtual machine within Windows 8 itselfThis sounds like regression fordesktop users running Windows 7 not progression I use a third party utility to totally customize my start menu in windows 7 It behavesa little like the classic start menu but is farmore efficient and is customized to my own needsYou seem to be saying the start menu is still there in windows 8 butit has been renamed ascharms Who the hell thought that idiocy up Someone who went to school at Hogsmeade with Mr Potter perhapsI trialled the consumer preview for a few weeks and got nothing positive out of the experience at all other than installing Better Explorer on my Windows 7 machineMatt please tell us in simple termsIs there anything in Windows 8 desktop mode apart from having all our mainstream software reclassified as legacyto make an upgrade forWindows 7 desktop users worthwhileor not

Matt Egan said: Totally agree But I think its necessary and I fail to see how the change could be handled better to be honest

Howard Abraham said: Legacy software includes every piece of Windows software that currently exists It is not realistic to think that all of your favorite apps will have Metro versions on day one if ever This is especially true in the corporate space where everything must be vetted before large scale deployment Dont get me wrong Win8 is beautiful Win8 has great potential But Win8 is a paradigm shift Unless you buy a WinRT tablet or Windows Phone you will likely spend most of your time in the familiar desktop environment sans the Start button for at least a year